ROUNDABOUT BLOG

From the Indianapolis production at Broad Ripple High School.

“Doing this show has completely transformed our work at this school. The production was drop-your-jaw, mind-blowingly incredible. The kids have never experienced anything so genuine. Not a single person wasn’t affected by this show.” Gene Silverman, Long Island High School for the Arts

I’ve always found the stories coming out of New York City students to be engaging, moving, and impactful. When I began a lengthy fellowship as a TCG/Fox Foundation Actor in Residence with Roundabout Theatre Company’s Education Department, my intention was to draw out more of these stories from a group of high school students and – somehow – combine those stories into a play. It worked.

Through nine months of story-circles, improvisation, interviews, and other devised theatre activities, a group of nine teenagers and I created Prospect High: Brooklyn. We were enthusiastic about the result because we loved the characters and the situations, but the play didn’t become a marketable product until we received the professional guidance of director Shelley Butler and dramaturg Shannon Deep. With tweaks, edits, and re-writes, we now have a 90-minute play that unfolds in real time and can be performed by five, twelve, or eighteen actors. It’s nimble. It’s flexible. It’s current. And it’s becoming quite popular! There have been 23 productions across the country just this year, and Repertory Company High School will present the first New York production on September 9 at 7:00PM, and September 10 at 2:00PM and 7:00PM in Roundabout’s Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46^th Street). Tickets will be available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. What an experience for these young performers, and for our young co-writers, to have the work performed on Roundabout’s professional stage!

The play focuses on (at least) four intelligent, highly charged students and (at least) one seriously apathetic teacher. Most importantly, it is based on the real words and experiences of the group of nine teenagers that were in the room with me all year. Their words make up the text, and their themes are fresh: apathy, revenge, deep friendship, trans identity, casual racism, self-harm, and the power of both good and bad advice from adults are all addressed against the backdrop of an enormous Brooklyn high school.

From the Chicago production at Niles West High School.

But why – and how – did we get our small, New York play out to the world? It started with my passion for what the students were creating. I think the characters in Prospect High: Brooklyn aren’t seen often on stage, and I think the theatre would be better if they were. So, with Roundabout’s support, I pitched select high schools across the nation to participate in the first ever high school theatre Rolling World Premiere. The National New Play Network introduced the concept of a Rolling World Premiere in 1998, and I’ve always thought it would be great to offer that kind of arrangement to schools. Basically how it works is that an organization offers a play to many smaller theatres at the same time, and each production is independently produced. The creators of the play can spy in on each production and improve their own work, and the theatres get coordinated attention when all the press is linked. This is a new and exciting idea for high school theatre.

The combination of great characters, professionally advised structure, and coordinated national productions has led to some recognition for our little-play-that-could. We were awarded semi-finalist status for the 2015 National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Center and we’ve been published by Smith & Kraus. Productions have received the Critic’s Choice Award in Wisconsin’s One-Act Festival, been selected for the Dallas Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, and even been a state finalist in Florida’s One-Act Festival – the first time in fifteen years that school has advanced so far. One high school production even played the West End in London. C’mon.

The following presentations took place during the 2015-16 academic year:

• Indianapolis: Broad Ripple Magnet High School for the Arts and Humanities (September 2015)
• Memphis: Ridgeway High School (November 2015)
• Syracuse: Corcoran High School (November 2015)
• Philadelphia: Academy at Palumbo (December 2015)
• Providence: Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts (December 2015)
• Boston: Boston Arts Academy (December 2015)
• Bridgeport: Central High School (December 2015)
• Harrisburg: Capital Area School for the Arts (December 2015)
• Milwaukee: Milwaukee High School of the Arts (December 2015)
• Ann Arbor: Pioneer High School (January 2016)
• Louisville: Youth Performing Arts High School (January 2016)
• Oklahoma City: Harding Fine Arts Academy (January 2016)
• San Jose: Lincoln High School (January 2016)
• Minneapolis: Southwest High School (February 2016)
• Chicago: Niles West High School (February 2016)
• Tallahassee: Leon High School (February 2016)
• Dallas: Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy (February 2016)
• Philadelphia: Philadelphia School for Creative and Performing Arts (February 2016)
• Long Island: Nassau BOCES Long Island High School for the Arts (April 2016)
• Austin: McCallum Fine Arts Academy (April 2016)
• Baltimore: Baltimore School for the Arts (May 2016)
• London: Showdown Theatre Arts (May 2016)
• San Diego: San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (May 2016)

Co-writers of the play are Daniel Robert Sullivan, Paul Stoll, Aaliyah Stewart, Isaiah Latimer, Chanique Peart, Deshaye Tingling, Amanda Rodriguez, Jaylin Acosta, Brandy Brown, Azaria Guthrie, Rebecca Powell, Rachel Friedman, and Shannon Deep. With the possible exception of that first guy in the list, these are all very cool, very special storytellers.

American and British casts together following their performances in London's West End.

What a dream! High school students from New York are seeing their words published and performed all over the world. American Theatre featured our work. The Long Island Press did a cover story. The Dallas Observer wanted interviews. And the Baltimore Post Examiner was fascinated by the play’s invitation to perform in London.

So what’s next? Wouldn’t it be great if we could devise more plays like this? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a program devoted to creating and publishing work that adhered to a certain set of core standards, standards that would make the plays readily producible? What would those standards have to be? I propose that new plays for teenagers might be:

• Culturally Diverse - devised from deliberately varied voices
• Socially Conscious - containing issues and opinions that are authentic to the specific group creating the play
• Flexible in Cast Size - allowing large or small departments to produce
• Easily Producible - with little or no technical requirements
• Royalty Free - with licensing available to any amateur group ad infinitum
• Age Conforming - with mostly real-age roles for teenage actors to play

A program devoted to that kind of work would be pretty special, I think. Hmm...

Visit us at ProspectHighBrooklyn.com!

Daniel Robert Sullivan is a Roundabout Theatre Company Teaching Artist.